The Political Ramifications of Good Facebook Ad Spend

Tucker

“A fool and his money are soon elected.” So allegedly observed humorist Will Rogers sometime between 1879 and 1935. While I am not brave enough to parse out the “fool” part of that quote, the “money” part is a much more interesting question in light of the recent midterm elections. Big spenders were largely rewarded, per usual, but the method of big spending is changing, especially where Facebook ad spend is concerned, and will have major implications in 2020.

The truth is if you want to win an election in 2018, or in the foreseeable future, you’d better be spending money on Facebook advertisements. Millions of dollars were spent in the 2018 midterms, and while these did not always result in wins, the use of Facebook ads is trending up.

Elsewhere, the president ensured that Republicans retained control of the Senate, spending around $5.1 million on Facebook ads. Criticize his methods as you may, but the man’s team can put together a wickedly effective Facebook campaign, as his ad team ran several variants and placed their ads all over Facebook. While of course, other factors led to the Republican defense of the Senate, the major advertising spends by the Trump team certainly didn’t hurt, and in fact, probably led to some Republican upsets, like the as of yet still up for grabs Florida gubernatorial election.

Cruz will take the win, but O’Rourke has now firmly established himself as a player in the political landscape, possibly culminating in a bid for the White House in 2020. This would be implausible if Beto’s campaign had not spent so much on Facebook ads, as those ads effectively reached every state in the country.

However, it is foolish to ignore the trend of Facebook ad spend. Facebook is going nowhere any time soon, and as candidates become more conscious of the value of Facebook ad spend, you may be seeing more and more political advertisements on your Facebook page. The ramifications of this are beyond political as well. The future of political campaigning will be done on Facebook, but so too will the future of business. Beto spent over $7 million on Facebook campaign ads and almost flipped Texas blue. That’s only a precursor for things to come. If you aren’t already marketing on Facebook, you better get to it before it’s too late.